Former Constitutional Court Judge Voßkuhle Sees the Development of an Electoral Dictatorship in the USA

DTS News Agency Former Constitutional Court Judge Voßkuhle Sees the Development of an Electoral Dictatorship in the USA 55 minutes • 1 minute reading time Karlsruhe (dts News Agency) - Former President of the Federal Constitutional Court, Andreas Voßkuhle, sees US President Donald Trump's attacks on judges and the judiciary as a major threat. "We are witnessing the development of authoritarian structures in the US," Voßkuhle told the "Handelsblatt" (Friday edition). It is increasingly becoming a so-called electoral dictatorship, he said, because it began with a vote of the voters and not a revolution with weapons. "But since his election, Trump and his clique have been trying to undermine and circumvent the democratic system and the constitutional structure of checks and balances," Voßkuhle warned. "The US is in a serious, major constitutional crisis." Voßkuhle considers the attacks on the judiciary by the US President, but also by Marine Le Pen in France, to be part of an "extremely problematic" development. "We are currently seeing that fundamental trust in the judiciary is being deliberately destroyed in some countries in order to create or expand totalitarian structures and evade judicial oversight," he said. The rule of law is fragile, but the judiciary must not shy away from enemies of the constitution. "Courts must follow the law, even if they may be insulted for doing so," Voßkuhle said. "Some judgments are abused, they are interpreted differently, or misquoted." Judges must live with that, too.